It's the story of a blind
lawyer, his 12-year-old son, a mid-teen daughter, and an ex-wife who is trying
to return to her adolescent years. The show is based upon the experiences of
D.J. Nash.

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J.K. Simmons portrays Mel
Fisher; for most of his life after he became blind at 12, he tried to make
others believe he wasn't blind. Jenna Elfman
is his ex-, Joyce Fisher, who extends the role she played on the hit
series, "Dharma and Greg."

Because television is a
repetitive medium, "Growing Up Fisher" has the look and feel of "The Wonder
Years," complete with a love interest for its pre-teen child." In this newer
SitCom, instead of an older Kevin Arnold (voiced by Daniel Stern) narrating the
story of his younger self (portrayed by Fred Savage), it's an older Henry
Fisher, narrated by Jason Bateman, who reflects upon his own younger self,
portrayed by Eli Baker.

In "Growing Up Fisher," as
in "Dharma and Greg" and "The Wonder Years," the father/husband is conservative
and strait-laced; the wife is more of a free spirit," common in many comedies, including Neil
Simon's "Barefoot in the Park," which had a half-season run on ABC in 1970 after
being a successful Broadway play and film.

The pilot of "The Wonder
Years" aired on ABC following SuperBowl XXII; the pilot for "Growing Up Fisher"
aired on NBC following the Olympics. Network executives counted on dragging the
huge audiences into strong ratings for the neophyte comedies.

It's not for the
similarities I like "Growing Up Fisher." Nor is it for the acting, directing,
and writing, all of which are above average for a modern TV comedy. Or even
because of Elvis, the Guide Dog. It's because "Growing Up Fisher" doesn't have
an annoying laugh track.

Charley Douglass, a CBS-TV
sound engineer invented the first laugh machine. Its purpose was to improve the
studio audience laughs, some of which were raucous and too overbroad, some of
which were far less than what the producers wanted. With the change from
comedies airing live to the use of tape delay, post-production, including
canned audience reaction, became critical for how the producers wanted
audiences to perceive the finished product. Ever since the early 1950s, most TV
comedies have used a laugh track, even when the show was "taped before a live
audience." Eventually the Douglass "Laff
Box" had more than 300 different canned laughs.

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Instead of developing plot
and character, many TV comedies are little more than a series of one-liners
stuck together by writers and producers who are too young to know and
appreciate the writing of James L. Brooks,
Sam Denoff, Larry Gelbart, David Isaacs, Ken Levine, Bill Persky, Carl
Reiner, Gene Reynolds, and dozens of others who were craftsmen. The laugh track now shows up every one or two
lines, even if the line isn't funny. And
it's not just subtle laughter or mild chuckles. Even the lamest line gets an
all-out decibel-popping presence.

The escalation of the laugh
track has become the producers' way to manipulate the audience to believe every
word is a gem, every sentence uttered is golden. In the past few years, the
laugh track has become invasive. On "Two and a Half Men," a lame but popular
rip-off of "Three's Company," and "2 Broke Girls," both of which push sexual
suggestiveness to the edge of lewdness, the laugh tracks make the shows almost
unwatchable. They're not the only ones.

At first, the insertion of
canned laughter was non-intrusive. Some comedies, including "My Three Sons" and
"The Brady Bunch" used less laughter; others pumped laughter at almost every
line. Several comedies went without laugh tracks. NBC reluctantly dropped the
laugh track mid-way through the second season on "The Monkees," after all four
actor-musicians demanded it, according to historian Paul Iverson. CBS had
required "M*A*S*H" to use a laugh track, over the protests of its creators. However,
as the comedy's ratings and subsequent advertising revenue increased, CBS executives
relented a bit--laugh tracks during scenes in the operating room were optional,
and other laughter was toned down.

Almost none of the classic
cartoons had laugh tracks; they didn't need it--the audiences knew when and how
to laugh, even if network business executives, few of whom were ever in the
creative part of show business, didn't.

Walter Brasch is an award-winning journalist and professor of journalism emeritus. His current books are Before the First Snow: Stories from the Revolution , America's Unpatriotic Acts: The Federal Government's Violation of (more...)